


Waltz

by RadioHalo (coldthing)



Category: Jekyll and Hyde (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-08 06:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5486591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldthing/pseuds/RadioHalo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyde had the grace of a talented amateur, but the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, this would never do, if he intended to regularly waltz in to the Empire like he owned the place, he needed to actually learn how to waltz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize that the greater context of this vignette eludes me. Perhaps some how i will figure it out, until then, i am a horrible sap.

Bella almost wasn’t surprised when she heard the conspicuously loud bang of her window being forced open, how the man could scale the front of the building in complete silence,  but still insist on making a racket when he entered her room  was beyond her.

Hyde probably thought he was being polite.

“I wish you wouldn’t break the latch” She said as she pulled her gloves off and discarded her boa. “I can only break so many nails putting it back in” she held out her hand to show him her carefully manicured fingernails.

Hyde grunted.

“Maybe I should start putting the shutters down…” She added, as she reached behind her neck to unclasp her necklace. “The girls can take bets on how long it will take you to break them”

Hyde was behind her  before she could blink, deftly undoing the clasp, he dropped it into her  waiting hand and then tipped her head to the side with a stroke of his fingers, unclasping his earrings.

“Your awfully quiet” Bella closed her hands around the earrings when  he handed them to her and set them down  on her vanity, “ usually to in love with the sound of your own voice….”

Hyde grunted again. He stalked around the room, checking corners and shadows,  Bella watched him with growing impatience.

“Maybe you can magic yourself in”  Bella said.

Another rumble from Hyde as he checked behind the curtains that couldn’t possibly hide anything on account of being nearly transparent.

“Why are you here anywhere?”

Hyde glanced  back at her, and gave her a salacious smile.

Bella crossed her arms across her chest in exasperation.

“What do you want?”

“Do I have to want anything?” Hyde asked, back by the window, resting his arm on the shattered from of the frame.

“You always want something” Bella said  unable to keep a quaver from her voice.

If Hyde noticed it he gave no indication, his inspection of the room finished he turned back to her, blocking her path to her vanity.

“I wanted to talk”  Hyde said, his brow was furrowed, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat, than took them out  again, as if unsure what to do with them.

“See you do want something yeah?”

Hyde considered this, his  eyes flicking away from hers, his head cocked to the side as if listening to something just out of earshot. He didn’t move and Bella tried to push past his bulk to get to her vanity.

Hyde grabbed her arm, tight enough to hurt.

“Oi!” Bella said, trying to pull her arm from Hyde’s grip,  he let go, holding his hands up defensively.

“Don’t bruise the fruit!” She spat at him, examining where he had grabbed her. No bruising she could see  now, but one might rise to the surface later.

There were a few seconds of silence as Bella glared at Hyde, waiting for him to apologize. None came unsurprisingly.

“Say I’ve got this friend” Hyde began, “and he’s got this girl, but he hasn’t a clue what to do with her”

“Is she the  one with the mother?” Bella asked.

“The very same” Hyde was closing back in on her again, crowding her with his bulk. Jekyll was a tall man, but relatively slender, it was like Hyde put on 2 stone onto his thin frame.

                “So, this friend of yours…” Bella said, ducking away from Hyde before he could trap her.

 “The coward” Hyde said , his voice a deep melodious growl despite his tone of utter contempt “who can't  bring himself to take the things he wants, he waits so long _agonizing_ over them that they completely get away” Hyde turned, on his heel when he reached the wall of her boudoir  and started back towards the window, always graceful like an enormous cat.

“ Utterly useless,” he paused  next to Bella where she still stood  by her  vanity, wanting to sit down, take her eyelashes off and wipe off her makeup.

. “Like he’s afraid or something…” Hyde continued, he leaned in close to her, resting his chin on her shoulder,  his sweat smelling like crushed grapes seeds, bitter  but still unexpectedly pleasant. 

“Oh?”  asked  Bella,  resigned to having to pay attention to Hyde until he got bored or something  happened. Something always happened when Hyde was involved.

_He’s afraid of you Hyde, of course you lack the self awareness to notice._   _Did you just show up to complain  about Jekyll like we’re old fishwives?_

 “I suppose nothing scares you…”she reached up and put her hand firmly on his shoulder, feeling the heat from his body through the fabric of his suit. She raised the other hand,  expecting him to know what to do with it, and Hyde took it, kissing her fingers with unexpected care. His other hand settled around  her hips and pulled her tight.

“Of course not” Hyde assured her, before spinning around, pulling her into a dance.

Hyde had the grace of a talented amateur, but the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, this would never do, if he intended to regularly waltz in to the Empire like he owned the place, he needed to actually learn how to waltz.

She stopped, planting her feet ion the floor with a loud clack of her heels, stopping Hyde in his tracks. She wasn’t a weak woman by any means,  but Hyde was taller than her, heavier than her  and stronger than any man she had ever met, she was keenly aware he could just sweep her off her feet and send her flying  if he so wished.

Hyde tried to take another step, and then stopped abruptly, his weight pulling on her shoulder slightly as he tried to shift her.

“Did I do something wrong, darling?” he asked, pressing his face back into the crook  of her neck, his curls tickling at  her skin. She could swear she  felt the graze of his sharp teeth on her throat.

“ _You_ , are a _terrible_ dancer” She replied archly as she  shrugged her shoulder, dislodging his chin. “Stand up straight when you dance with me.”

Hyde seemed too shocked to respond, and obediently straightened  up out of his habitual slouch.

“ _Good boy_ ” She purred.

Hyde beamed like a dog with a new trick, and  pulled her closer to him again, clearly intending to start moving.

“No,” she said authoritatively,  her feet still planted in the ground, “move your hand to my waist, don’t grab my ass like a monkey”

His hand moved, strong fingers tight and hot  even through all the silk and taffeta layers of her dress. As if just to spite her, he pressed his knee between her legs, the linen of his trousers  rough even through her nylons.

His face was still pressed close to her neck and shoulder again, she could feel his hot breath down the back of her dress.

“Look at me, right in the eyes” She said, and his face came up to look at her, his feral smirk starting to form, she smiled right back at him, and  pried his grasping fingers off her outstretched hand, settling them back into the correct position for the lead.

“My, my…” Hyde started to say, but Bella kicked at  the ankle of the leg thrust between her thighs.  To her annoyance Hyde barely flinched.

“Get that leg out of there, this ain’t a tango salon” she said.

Again Hyde seemed to startled to do anything but obediently move his leg. She pushed it into position for the first  step of the waltz.

“I thought you weren’t a proper lady” Hyde said, amused.

“Proper ladies can’t dance” Bella assured him.

Hyde’s expression quirked into good humored amusement as Bella tapped out the beat on his arm. Hyde amused was almost as dangerous as Hyde angry.

Hyde of course was a natural. He unapologetically stepped on her foot in the first turn, but after that  his steps synchronized perfectly to hers.

The danced circles around Bella’s boudoir, the  beat of their steps almost hypnotic.

Hyde pressed himself close to Bella, to close to be proper for a waltz if she were honest. He reaction to Hyde’s presence was  inexplicable, he repelled and fascinated her in equal parts, and she should have  the good sense to stay as far as possible away from him.

And she usually listened to her good sense, instead she was waltzing with a man  who was  less man, and more a wolf stood on its hind legs and put in a suit.

This was a terrible idea.

Hyde’s curls brushed her cheek again, his cheek against her neck, flooding her with warmth, filling her with an electric buzz of anticipation.

                There was a firm rap on the door breaking the spell.  The door  opened to reveal Mimi, who had the decency to look  embarrassed as she peeked in, Bella pushed Hyde away in irritation.

“Garsons’ here, really desperate like” then Mimi retreated with a terrified  squeak and bang of the door before Hyde could open his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still fail at narrative. there are a few more pieces that were written at the same time, hopefully i'll be able to make a coherent story from them eventually.

She realized Hyde’s looming presence  wasn’t at her shoulder, seems once he had decided that Garson was ‘not fun’ and had made straight for the bar.

Garson shuffled by the door, anxious to be out, Bella wondered if he had come straight here when he couldn’t find Jekyll, or if he had checked any number of other places the Doctor would have frequented before coming here.

“Seems you’ve got him like a dog on a leash” Mimi said.

“He’s cheaper than a dog, keep him amused and he’s putty” Bella said airily, waiting  for the snarled retort that never came..

“I don’t dare imagine what he considers amusing” Mimi said instead.

“Oh you know, chaos, mayhem, _fun things_ …” Hyde interjected, he hopped up on the bar top, displacing Mimi who was wiping it down and swung his legs over it, dropping down on the other side. Bella heard him rattling bottles.

Mimi squeaked and vacated the bar in a rush of pink silk, abandoning her cleaning,  trying to put as much distance between herself and Hyde.

 _Silly girl,_ Bella thought, Hyde might be rough and intrusive and spoiling for a fight, but she had yet to seem him treat her girls unkindly. When they didn’t have mind controlling evil insects in them of course.

Bella shrugged, dismissing the problem, she had entertained Hyde enough for the night, she had work to do and  subtly and Hyde did not mix. Time for Garson to take the baby off her hands  so she could get things done.

“What do you expect?” She asked  with a wry smile.

Garson started towards her “you can’t expect anything from Hyde, Hyde is evil.”

Bella pinched her brow, feeling the ache of a tension headache behind her eyes,  to many people telling her things they thought she didn’t already know.

“Hyde isn't evil” she said unable to keep the exasperation out of her voice, “he's just really  selfish”

“That's right!” Hyde echoed from where he was reclining on the bar top, he had stretched out his long body  on the expanse of polished wood like some decadent emperor,  and had a mostly full bottle of the good scotch half way to his mouth.

“I don’t share my toys” He continued as he took a swig from the bottle, put it aside and stretched luxuriously.

“ Yes, like a spoiled child” Bella retorted not looking at Hyde.  His ego could take it, and if he couldn’t well then her umbrella was with in reach and Mimi knew where the shotgun was.

Garson looked appalled, as is expecting Hyde to do something irrational and violent at her harsh words, but she was beginning to figure out why Hyde was so infatuated with her, he liked it when someone talked back to him, unafraid of his towering ferocity.

She heard Hyde jump off the bar top, and prayed he didn’t drop the bottle of good scotch, but she didn’t hear any crashes, and his hands were empty when he came up behind her so  she hoped he had set it back on the bar top.

Hyde paused beside her, a rumbling appreciative growl in his chest as he looked down at Bella before  looking Garson over appraisingly. He clearly was going to behave like a child being pulled away from his favorite game. Tough, Bella needed to finish closing the Empire and get some sleep.

Bella patted Hyde on the arm “Don’t loom, darling” She gave him a little push towards Garson. She needed him gone so she could clean up instead of entertaining his appetites. He was fun to have around some times, this was not one of those times.

Hyde slunk off and walked a circle around Garson before pausing  to loom over the older man’s shoulder.

“What can I do for the good old doctor Garson?” he asked.

Bella risked a glance back at the bar, the good scotch was indeed set aside and neatly corked.

 _Good boy_ , she could train this one yet.

Garson seemed a little startled at Hyde’s sudden close presence, and he stiffened until Hyde took his arm off his shoulders.

Hyde pressed his lips together in a frown, a thunderhead  of impatience building in his expression.

“Well?” Hyde asked.

“You need to come back to the house, Renata…” Garson started.

The rumbling growl  that emanated from Hyde’s chest  rattled the tables and glasses and shocked Garson into silence.

“What about Renata?” Hyde asked, suddenly interested.

“Someone tried to  break into the crypt, she wants you to come”

Garson took a step back from Hyde,  as if he didn’t know what to expect from him, fury was inevitable, but  where it would be directed was anyone’s guess.

“Renata?” Bella started to say,  but Hyde was  already pulling on his coat,  and stalking towards the door.

“Come on Garson, we’re going for a ride”

 


	3. Chapter 3

“ What are one old  man, and a broad to a Hyde. You never needed them” The one eyed man was saying, his voice almost drowned by the challenging roar of one of the yeth hounds. There was an echoing in roar from Hyde and anything else the one eyed man wanted to say was lost as Hyde flung one of the yeth hounds at him, sending the dog monster flying across the room.

The yeth hound got unsteadily to its feet,  a keening wail emerging from its stump of a neck, its two brothers joined in the wail and all three of them launched themselves at Hyde.

Hyde roared,  cuffing one of the creatures aside with a sweep of his hands,  the second latched on to his arm with its lampry like teeth, clamping down  on the limb. The third yeth hound  snapped at Hyde’s legs, taking a large chunk of his trousers before being kicked away.

Hyde shook the yeth hound still attached to his arm,  trying to pull it off, before  slamming himself bodily into a wall, crushing the creature with  his weight

The creatures’ jaw came lose with a sound like a green branch snapping, blood sprayed Hyde in the face, but the yeth hound  struggled to its feet again and tried to go for Hyde’s thigh.

“What was that?” he roared,  they are _mine_ , my useless old man, my silly little quim, and the only one who can do _anything_ to them, ” The sound that Hyde made was  not even close to a human noise. His rage was palpable in the air,  his rumbling growl so low, you almost couldn’t hear it, “ _is me_ ” he snarled, lurching forward into some kind of terrifying dance.

Bella bristled but still she stepped into the path of Hyde’s dance and kicked a yeth hound in the stomach, the animal squealing  as her toe connected to what ever vitals it had insides its misshapen body. Monsters or no monsters, she intended to correct Hyde.

“I’m not your silly little quim” She told Hyde.

“Oh?” Hyde rasped, he abruptly stopped moving,  dropping the man he had been holding and 

spinning on his heel to face Bella, his body  coming dangerously close to the tip of her umbrella.

                “Then what are you exactly?” His face had that to many teeth expression that wasn’t a smile.

She didn’t get a chance to answer before he lunged towards her, barely missing her as she jumped aside,   barreling into a wraith that had been sneaking up behind her. The two of them went down in a cloud  of foul smelling black smoke.

Hyde rolled, and was back on his feet in second with the grace that would make an acrobat weep.

“Well?” He turned back to face her, sidestepping a swing from another wraith with out letting his gaze waver.

“ I’m not _your_ anything, your _my_ rude little boy” Bella  replied, she had the blade out of her umbrella now, using the sharp tip to  ward off a thug, and the  scabbard with its flappy black cotton to defend her flank. Let Hyde deal with the wraiths, she could deal with the men.

“Rude eh?” Hyde’s laugh was a melodious growl, “and here I thought you liked rude boys”

Bella’s sword slid through a man’s shoulder with out a sound and  she had to yank to pull it out again, sending  the man flying into Hyde  with a gurgle of pain.

Hyde grabbed the man by the throat,  and  slammed him down hard towards the floor, through a table. There was a sound like a green branch snapping and Hyde was finished with that particular problem.

“I like teaching them manners” Bella remarked as she parried a thug with a gun, spearing his wrist with her sword and  then kicking the gun aside. It sailed across the room and  slid under a table.

“Right neighborly of you” Hyde replied with an approving nod towards  her sword.

The bang of Garson’s shotgun startled them both

 

Hyde was out of breath, that was…not normal. Well not normal according to the mysterious rules that seemed to govern the inner workings of his body.

 He slid to a halt, shaking his head, turning back towards her, and Bella saw the change take hold mid step. where Hyde had the preternatural grace of a cat, Jekyll would never be that sure footed, he tripped, and went down in a heap of long  limbs.

                Jekyll sat up, panting, his eyes slightly glazed and concussed and looked around at the wreckage.

                “Oh dear” He said weakly, trying to force a smile and failing.

                He got back to his feet, brushing his coat off sheepishly,  and glanced at Bella where she still stood brandishing her umbrella.

                “That worked I suppose,” he motioned to the heaps of black wraith dust  on the floor and the spread of broken yeth hound corpses, and then crumped into unconsciousness.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Bella leaned over his chest, stroking a nail up over his stomach, across his chest, and detouring to circle one of his pale nipples.

                Jekyll, she was sure that this was Jekyll, looked scandalized, the expression almost comical on his boyish features.

                Waking from his Hyde hangover to Bella lying naked next to him seemed like the most perfect way to unsettle the man, and it had worked perfectly.

                “You gonna run out of here like a scalded cat again?”  she pinched the nipple between her fingers,  rolling it back and forth until it was peaked and sensitive. Jekyll made a noise like a kicked dog.

                “Because I put your clothes in the safe, “ She purred “So I can have you all to myself”

                Jekyll  pulled at his wrist, the rope held tight. Mimi knew her knots, it wasn’t going to come lose any time  soon. Bella sat back, gathering her sheets around herself.

                “I see” Jekyll said, as he looked down at his own nakedness with apparent resignation, “your ingenuity never fails to astonish, Miss Charming”

                “Bella” she said.

                Jekyll grimaced, an expression that looked so close to Hyde’s smirk that Bella thought that maybe there wasn’t so much of a difference between them after all.

                “Bella” Jekyll  reluctantly agreed.

                Bella sat up,  folding her sheets around her chest and stepped off the bed leaving Jekyll to the chilly morning air.

                “So what did Hyde do that I deserve this treatment” Jekyll said testily, as Bella dropped her sheet to the floor and  picked her robe up off the dresser, wrapping it around her shoulders. She  busied herself picking out clean nylons and underthings for the day while she let Jekyll stew.

                She was aware of Jekyll staring at her from the bed, mouth tightly shut, but eyes wide open.

                After she was finished with  all her clasps and ties, fabric pulling her body into  shape she sat down in her vanity’s chair, and put her  chin in her hand. She stared at Jekyll, as if in deep consideration of his body.

                “What did Hyde do?” Jekyll asked again.

                “You remember what Hyde does don’t you?” Bella asked.

                “Not immediately, later on…” Jekyll’s voice was weak and embarrassed.

                “He dragged trouble  into my place again”

                “And yet you keep letting him in…” Jekyll’s voice was accusatory, all hints of his earlier  embarrassment gone. He pulled at his bonds as if he could break Mimi’s knots.

                “I let you in don’t I, at least Hyde can earn his keep as a guard dog”

                “Hah!” Jekyll’s laugh was unexpectedly  harsh.

                Bella  stood up and started picking through her dresses, trying to decide  which one to wear.

                “Which one do you like?”  She pulled out two, one a deep blue with  trimming in a different blue and gold buttons, the other gray with dark red stitch work and panels. Both were  subdued respectable dresses, not at all like the  what she wore to work the floor at the Empire.

                Jekyll looked startled and taken aback, his eyes flicking panicked from one dress to the other. Bella held one to her chest, than the other, modeling  them

“The gray one” he said finally.

Bella smiled “funny, Hyde likes this one too”  she put the blue dress back into the closet and took the gray dress off its hanger.

Jekyll swallowed. “You didn’t tie me up just to remind me you like Hyde better.”

“Nah, I tied you up because  Hyde’s ego makes getting straight answers from him impossible, I need you for that”

                Jekyll’s expression was ugly “At least I’m useful for something” he spat.

                Bella  stepped into the dress, pulled it up over her legs and straightened it over her hips and stomach, before reaching back to zip it up.

                “I would ask you to help” she said idly,  pulling at the zipper, “but….”

                “Don’t you dare” Jekyll said with vehemence, as if a terrible pun was the worst possible thing in the universe.

                Bella smiled and didn’t torture him anymore.

                She sat back down on the edge of the bed,  her dress now serving to highlight Jekyll’s nakedness. 

                Jekyll to his credit, did not have an erection.

                “So, my dear Doctor,” Bella leaned forwards toward him, Jekyll tried to scoot back against the headboard, “What exactly is going on? She placed her hand on his cheek and tenderly stroked it, nails dangerously close to his eye.

                Jekyll made the kicked dog noise again.

                “How long have been out?” Jekyll demanded.

                Bella sat back “only a few hours”

                “Oh my god” Jekyll suddenly jerked up, Bella saw the ropes strain around his wrists as if Hyde’s strength was starting to bleed back in already “Renata, the crypt, this was all a distraction to keep Hyde  in London, how could I be so stupid”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily grinned mischievously, “Can I try?” She asked sidling up to the bar.  
>  Jekyll looked apprehensive “ You're not going to set anything on fire are you?”  
>  “Nonsense” Lily said “nothing here has a high enough proof to burn”  
>  Jekyll still had that appalled and terrified look on his face again.  
>  “Trust me Robert” Lily said, reaching for a bottle of gin “I’m a chemist”

Bella raised an eyebrow, “How did you know  to find Dr. Jekyll here?” she asked, she hadn’t thought that many people knew about  Jekyll’s preoccupation with the drinking hall. It wasn’t exactly the kind of establishment that some one of his class would frequent.

                The girl was pretty with a small mouth that looked like it was  forever in pout.

                “Oh, I saw some flyers at his place” she said as she  pulled her gloves off, looking around “ and If I was feeling maudlin, this is the kind of place I would come” She said,  and smiled at Bella.

                Bella wasn’t at all sure how to take that, but she covered up her unease with a welcoming smile “Well, the doctor does come here to sulk an awful lot” She said.

                Well, Hyde came because he was infatuated, Jekyll came because  if he wanted to drink, he risked changing into Hyde, and he was to scrupulous a man to unleash Hyde on  unsuspecting club members. Hence, the Empire, where at least Hyde’s antics were familiar.

                “What has him so down  this time you think?” She ushered Lily down the open floor admit hoots and hollers from the punters.  She could have taken Lily around the side of the room, where she would be deep in shadow and unmolested, but she wanted to unsettle the girl, so she wouldn’t come back

Jekyll  had ensconced himself in a corner booth,  a spread of books and note paper on the table looking as if he was an unusually studious book keeper.

There was a small line of shot glasses lined up on the edge of the table, waiting for one of the girls to retrieve them,  that many drunk already and no Hyde? He must be making progress on his notes.

“Robert!” Lily said and Jekyll flinched,  sending papers flying off the table.

“Lily!” Jekyll sounded startled as he tried to get his paper back into some kind of order. “What are you doing here?”

Lily indicated to folder of papers in her arms, “I wanted to show you something, but when I went by your house, Garson told me you went out for a drink”

“And what are you doing _here_?” Jekyll’s voice took on a slightly high pitched terrified note.

“Oh you’ve got so many flyers for this place, I figured it must be your favorite haunt” Lily pushed in on the booth, displacing a pile of books so she could sit next to Jekyll.

Bella ruthlessly stamped on the  brief flare of jealousy at seeing Jekyll and this girl Lily Clarke together. The girl didn’t know Hyde, Bella did, she tried to feel confident in that.

“Well then” she said “Can I get you kids anything?”

“Two pints of what ever is decent” Lily  said brightly as she sorted out a few papers out onto the table setting them next to some of Jekyll’s work.

 

Mimi nodded towards Jekyll and Lily sitting with their heads together, deep in conversation as she pulled two pints of bitter. “I thought he was your dog?”

Bella sighed “Its complicated, he’s complicated”

Mimi nodded knowingly,  thinking she had the situation all figured out and set off to take the beers to the table.


End file.
